Started as always by creating the background. This involved Brusho, when doesn't it these days? I used a little of the powder colour mixed with a little water and painted it onto a good quality watercolour card. When it was dry I used the tip only of a broad flat headed brush to add little strands of orange and green. It reminds me of saffron in a way.

I then passed the dry piece of card through the embosser using a tree bark texture plate. Afterwards I swiped a clear embossing ink over the raised areas and embossed using clear powder. It makes the texture show up more.

In keeping with the texture on the background I used a little corrugated strip with a faux buckle to add interest.

The sentiment was stamped on piece of card which had been coloured with the same shades of Brusho but in an ombre way which was then splashed with water.

Hello! Well, I don't know what it was like for you over the weekend but it was bloomin' lovely here! Fab amounts of sunshine, nice and warm, and altogether very 'summery'. Let's hope that it keeps going right through till October!

There was also the eclipse which at first glance seemed to be spoiled by an unusually thick fog. However, this worked to my advantage as it allowed me to get some fab shots. Here is one of the 100+ shots I took! This one was taken about 9:35 so at the height of the eclipse. It was eerily quiet and everything was bathed in a yellow glow.

Right, on to the matter in hand, my inspirational make for Visible Image. I have been reading a lot about this tissue technique just lately. Well, let me tell you I have been doing it for ages! I stumbled across it purely by accident when I placed a very wet and inky piece of kitchen roll onto a piece of card by mistake. Initially I was annoyed at the waste of the piece of card but quickly realised that it was actually a good use of the inky tissue!

This little book is made form a piece of card which had a soggy wet inky tissue laid out on it, I intended to use the tissue for another project so I had opened it out to dry quicker. I was doubly pleased as the card it was lying on ended up with some beautiful staining.

All in all a very pleasing result I think. I am crazy about making these little books at the moment, they take a little while but make a change from my other current project, my ATC365 which is a quick 30 minute project once a day. These books give me something to get involved in.

As always, the following images link directly to the Visible Image online shop and underneath are all the links you need to see more of the fab stuff Visible Image and the Design Team do!

Touch of distressing around the edges, haven't done that for ages. I noticed last month with my collage that there was one ATC that really stuck out, it had a cream background. I know I should just make something 'in the moment' but I don't want to spoil my monthly collage with another glaring white card again.

So this started life as a plain white piece of watercolour card. I simply stamped the images using a black archival ink and then water coloured the elements. All the elements are individual stamps so there was a bit of masking going on. I added some visual texture with a linen stamp and the distressing followed swiftly on from that.

Bore da! Or if you're reading this a little later Prynhawn da! Either way, nice to see you here again.

Today my post for Visible Image shows how you can make a great card using just a couple of stamp and a sentiment. OK, sometimes it is good to go 'all out' and stamp until your hands are aching, but other times it is just about that one image.

You know I love butterflies? Well I do, and this stamp from the INKognito range is just a dream to have in my collection.

Better show you the card I think before I forget!

I started by making my background. This is wet Brusho painted onto white card. I deliberately kept away from the edges this time so that the stamping round the edge would show up more. I really like the places where the paint brush marks show.

I stamped the INKognito butterfly first and then added the traditional butterfly over the top. I used the trailing splodges from the wing of the butterfly around the edge. I used wet Brusho paint as the 'ink' for the stamp just painting it directly onto the stamp. I then used a darker mix for the other butterfly image. It's neat how they fit perfectly. Was this a happy accident or did they do it on purpose? I wonder!

The sentiment is stamped in white embossing powder. I love the font, that old typewriter style. Lovely. I very nearly used the same blue again but as I knew I was going to stamp slightly over the butterfly wing, I decided to do it in white so it didn't get lost. Such a good decision!

Here are the picture links for the stamps I used and don't forget to check out all the other DT blogs and Facebook pages.

Monday, 9 March 2015

Hello! Got the word ACORN today from Mr Generator. I love these stamps by Tim Holtz. My only gripe is that I think this is upside down! But the words are the right way up so there we are. Could have cut the word 'acorn' out and turned it over I suppose.

Now I suspect the background is coloured using Tattered Angels glimmer mist. It has a shimmer to it and it is a really old piece of card, thick heavy watercolour card. I haven't had any of that for a long time!

Hello again! It's been a changeable week weather wise here in Wales but spring is definitely here! The snowdrops are out, daffs are opening and the sun has been shining more and more.

This week I want to show you a project I did using the lovely melty clock from the new range of stamps by Visible Image.

The clock itself is a fantastic stamp but the sentiment that comes with it is perfect for all sorts of occasions.

I started the piece with a Brusho coloured background in green, turquoise and purple. When this was dry I brushed lightly over the whole piece with some Gesso keeping the brush as dry as possible and barely touching the paper. It lightens the colour and gives a worn look, a bit like faded denim. It also gives a great key to the embossing powder!

Once the Gesso was dry I took the polka dot stamp and dipped it in some liquid Brusho, spritzed the stamp with more water and stamped it onto the background. I left it in place so that the paint drained onto the page.

I then stamped the clock directly onto the background and embossed it with black powder. I stamped the sentiment onto a separate piece of card.

The piece of card was torn to size and then layered up on more torn card in similar colours.